If This Is It
by love4funny
Summary: Stuck between anomalies, Connor, Abby, and Danny must find a way to return to present-day London.
1. More Than Mere Survival

I had never been someone to sleep through the whole night. I always woke up once or twice in the early morning to get a drink or to use the bathroom. So it was no surprise to me when I woke up in what I guessed was the middle of the night.

I glanced over at Connor, sound asleep, his face turned a shadowy grey in what little light there was.

As I watched him sleeping, I thought to myself. _What if this was it? Just me and Connor. What if Danny was— _No.

I stopped myself, knowing that wondering wasn't going to get me anywhere.

I could hear Connor's soft snoring, barely audible over the chirping of crickets that seemed to be coming from all around me.

I looked back at him one last time before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep again.

* * *

I woke up a few hours later, with the first rays of the sun just starting to shine through the tall branches of the forest, scattering diamonds of light onto the ground and the trees above it.

"Abby?" I turned to look at him, forcing back a smile. "Are you feeling any better?" I asked him, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Oh, yeah", he said, smiling, but I could tell he was lying through his teeth.

I watched him as he rubbed his hands together, setting them on his knees. "So…we need to find Danny, yeah?" he asked me, looking out towards the mountains.

"Yeah. But what about your ankle?" I asked him, lifting his pants leg to take a look.

"Nah," he replied, waving the thought away. "I'm fi—." He winced in pain as I moved to straighten out his leg to get a better look at his ankle. "Ow, Abby, don't do that," he said in one breath.

I offered him an apologetic smile, the best I could do. "Sorry," I said, looking up to see how he would react.

He bent over to take a look at his injury, looking up at me after trying his hardest to inspect it himself. "How is it?" he asked me, though I'm sure he could see it fairly weel for himself.

"Well, I don't think it's broken," I told him. "I think you might've just sprained it. Here."

I tossed him my bag. "Alright, Connor, get me my medical kit." I watched as he took it out and passed it back to me.

"We're going to need to wrap it," I said, reaching into the medical kit for the tape and bandages. "Now this might hurt," I warned him.

He nodded, but we both knew very well that he was nowhere near prepared for what I was about to have to do.

I tried my best to ignore the pain I was putting him in, feeling myself wince at every yelp or groan I heard come out of his mouth, as I wrapped the bandages around his ankle.

"There. That should do it," I said to myself as I finished his makeshift cast. After all, it was the best I could do, given the circumstances.

I watched him as he slowly turned to peek at my progress. "Are you done?" he asked me. I could tell he was scared to look at what I had done to his leg.

"Yes, Connor, I'm done," I told him, knowing that if I was in his place, I would want to know the same thing.

I grabbed his bag from behind me and started to unzip it. "You wouldn't happen to have any food in here, would you?"

I began to rummage through it, eventually stumbling upon a lone packet of crisps.

"This is your idea of emergency food?" I asked him, noticing the way he was watching me.

"Emergency food," he repeated, a goofy grin on his face. "It's all a bit blah, don't you think?"

I looked back at the crisps in my hand. "Well, I guess this'll just have to do. We should split them, yeah?"

"Yeah, give them here," he said, holding out his hand and grinning. We were both starving by now and more than ready to eat.

I poured out half the crisps into his outstretched hand, saving the rest of them for myself.

"It's lovely really," I heard him say quietly, in between the bites he took.

"What is?" I asked him, joining him in looking out at the mountains to the north of us.

"This," he said, gesturing to the landscape that surrounded us on all sides.

"Yeah. It is," I agreed, smiling, as I suddenly noticed how beautiful it all was. The scent of fresh pine that invaded my nostrils, the crisp morning air, cold yet at the same time comforting and familiar, and the feeling of just being here, in the middle of all of it, this undisturbed beauty, lost in the past.

"Well, apart from the fact that we may not be able to get back home, and we're up a tree, splitting a packet of crisps, and—."

"Connor?" I stopped him, trying as hard as I could not to laugh. "I get it."

He got that confused look on his face, making me immediately regret cutting him off.

"Right. Sorry," he said, though he hadn't done anything that I thought required an apology.

"Abby, I--. If this is it--. I just--. I want you to know that—." He stopped, closing his eyes for a second and taking a deep breath. "I love you, Abby."

I smiled, turning to look up at him. "I know, Connor," I told him, taking his hands. "And this isn't it. We're going to get out of here, okay? We're going home. Now let's go find Danny, yeah?" I said, more to myself than to him.

"Um…yeah. Could you help?" he asked me, holding on to me for support.

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Please review. This is my first fanfic so please tell me exactly what you think. No sugarcoating please! And more chapters are to come don't worry.


	2. Bittersweet Ending

As we worked our way back down the tree, I helped Connor whenever possible, keeping an arm around him to help him steady himself, and slowing down when needed without complaint. After all, I wasn't the one with the very possibly broken ankle.

"There," I told him, pointing with my one free arm to the clearing where I had last seen Helen, and most recently, Danny, as we reached the safety of the ground.

As we reached the clearing, I felt a wave of horror wash over me. "Oh, God," I heard myself say.

"What is it?" Connor asked, his eyes wide with surprise and fear. "I don't see anything."

I looked up at him, a tie between a look of confusion and shock plastered on my face. "The anomaly, Connor," I stopped, walking over to where I had seen it before. "It--It was right here."

He stayed put, leaning on a stick to support himself, now that I had moved away from him. "Abby, are you sure? I mean, you might've just—"

"No, Connor. It was right here," I said, hearing my voice fade as I realised what this meant.

I went and sat down, having to help him to move into a sitting position after I had settled myself.

"So I guess this is it then," I heard Connor say, and I noticed that his voice was starting to crack. "And Danny--. Oh God."

We put our arms around each other, hoping that it would help make the situation better to some extent, and, even though it didn't, being here with him helped to ease the hollow feeling deep in my chest.

I cried softly into his shoulder, knowing that we were never going to see London again, or Rex, Sid, and Nancy. We would never leave here, this ancient pine forest, filled with raptors and God knows what else, that we were doomed to spend the rest of our miserable lives in.

"Abby, I—" As I lifted my head to look at him, I noticed a flashing light, a few metres away from where we sat.

"Connor," I said, pointing to it. "What is it?" he asked me, looking slightly upset that he hadn't been able to finish what he had been about to say. I walked over to pick it up, noticing, to my surprise, that it was it was the anomaly opener.

"Helen must've dropped it coming through the anomaly," Connor said, limping to my side as he used the stick he had picked up to help him along, laughing with relief.

I handed it to him, watching him as he typed in the numbers. "Alright, 333, now just type this in…" I heard him mumble to himself. As I heard the familiar roar in the distance that I knew could only be one thing, I saw the twinkle of the newly opened anomaly out of the corner of my eye.

"Yes," I heard Connor say. "Alright, come on," he told me, waiting for me to go ahead of him, the coward that he was, before going through it himself.

The other side of the anomaly was a desert-type valley, with the sun heating the sand, so that your feet were burned when you walked across it.

"This is it. The Rift Valley," he said, looking around himself, a look of complete and utter fascination on his face. "But where's Danny?" I asked quietly, looking up at him.

"I don't know. He must be around here somewhere though, yeah?" he answered, settling his arms around me as we prepared to go search for Danny.

* * *

Thanks so much for reading!! And as for nightmist379, I'm so sorry I haven't replied, but I couldn't (it wouldn't let me, honest) it says "this user has private messaging disabled, so please enable it if you want me to reply you :D)! please review, this is my first fanfiction and i want to know if i'm doing alright so far.

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	3. Rise and Fall

We made our way over to the shade without seeing anyone or anything, and started to worry.

"Danny!" I heard Connor call, letting me know that I should do the same. We went on like this for a while, taking turns calling Danny's name.

As we went through the valley, we saw nothing but sand and mountains. Each corner we turned, every plant we passed, all started to look alike after a while. "I think we're going in circles, Connor," I told him, as we passed a cactus that I was sure I remembered seeing at least a dozen times before.

"No, look," he said, pointing into the shade of a large cliff, where I saw a small figure in what, at least from a distance, looked like a red plaid shirt. "Danny!" I called, knowing that from this far away, he would surely hear me.

The figure stayed completely still, forcing us to immediately think the worst. Connor and I exchanged a worried look, before we started to move towards Danny.

Even though we were slowed down quite a bit, what with Connor's broken ankle and all, we still managed to reach him rather quickly.

I knelt down to check Danny's pulse, hearing myself sigh with relief as I felt the light tapping against my fingers. "Yeah," I told Connor, nodding at him. He let out a deep breath, knowing he could rest easy now that Danny was going to be alright.

"I think he's got a bit of heat stroke," I said, looking up at Connor. "Well, is there anything we can—" "We'll need to help him to get him through the anomalies," I interrupted.

"Danny, you're going to need to wake up," I said, almost to myself, gently patting him on his cheeks and forehead. I saw his eyes flicker open, like he was struggling to pry them apart. "Abby? Where's Connor?" he asked weakly, holding out a hand for me to help him up.

Connor waved at him, grinning. "Here," he said, forcing me to laugh and roll my eyes. I helped Danny up, ignoring Connor's insisting on doing something. "You can't be doing anything now," I told him.

As we started to move back towards the anomaly, Danny on one side, insisting he didn't need any help and was fine, and Connor on the other, our arms around each other to help support him, we noticed that the bright sun above us was slowly growing duller.

The three of us stopped and exchanged a worried look, all thinking the same thing. Danny spoke first. "We should make it before dark if we hurry."

We kept going, stopping every time either Connor or Danny needed to catch his breath.

"What's wrong with you, anyway?" I heard Danny ask him while we were stopped. "Ankle," we both answered at the same time, feeling myself blush and looking down at my feet soon after. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Connor shot me a confused look, hearing Danny chuckle to my right. "Cute," he mumbled.

"Um…we should get going, yeah?" I offered, not being one at awkward situations. I had always been that way, squirming at any mention of me and my life or anyone or anything that half concerned it, and changing the subject as quickly as possible.

"Yeah, that might be best," Connor agreed, glancing at me for approval.

"Sure," Danny said, grinning from ear to ear, as he stepped forward to get a head start on us.

We ended up reaching the anomaly just after dark, when the three of us had to squint to be able to see where we were going. "Alright," Danny said, nodding at us to go ahead of him.

Connor absentmindedly tightened his arms around me, anxious to get to the other side. He waited for me as I took a deep breath before stepping through the anomaly.

* * *

Again, I cannot tell you enough how important it is for me to know what you think of my story, so PLEASE review! nothing long or anything, just a short review will do. PLEASE just tell me what you think. you've read it, you must have some thoughts, right? :D

* * *


	4. Breaking the News

It was mid-day on the other side of the anomaly, giving the landscape a golden glow. The light shone through the pine trees, putting patterns onto the floor beneath them.

We heard Danny come up behind us, his feet crackling on the leaves as he got closer.

Connor closed the anomaly behind him, only to open yet another one in front of us.

"This goes to the future, doesn't it?" I asked him, even though I knew that he wouldn't admit it even if it did lead to the wrong place. "Hopefully," he nodded, an unsure look on his face.

"You mean you're not sure?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "No, I can't be sure," he admitted. "But I'm guessing that if we came in this way, we should be able to leave through here."

I heard Danny sigh as he came up next beside me. "Well, there's only one way to find out, yeah?"

"This had better work," I mumbled, noticing Connor close his eyes and take a deep breath when he heard me.

Danny went first, leaving us with no choice but to go in behind him. We stepped through slowly, still unsure about what would be on the other side.

I sighed with relief when I noticed what was left of the artifact, lying scattered across the dark concrete floor, the console that Helen, and, later Connor, had used to open the anomaly, and the all too familiar logo of the Anomaly Research Centre on the wall.

"You were right," I admitted to him, giving him a quick vote of confidence. He kept a blank look on his face, like he was thinking about which reaction he should have. "What, you thought I wouldn't be?"

I looked around myself, looking for a reason to change the subject, but coming up empty-handed. "Well…" I started, having to stop myself soon after to avoid hurting Connor's feelings.

"Alright, you two, let's go," I heard Danny say, grabbing our attention.

We worked our way outside, having to step over various things, ranging from boxes to pieces of stone from the crumbling walls, that had found space on the floor after years of neglect.

"So, the anomaly…" Danny reminded us once we were outside. Connor and I exchanged an annoyed look.

"It was over there," Connor said, pointing in the direction of where the anomaly had been before.

"Alright, then," Danny said, before starting off in the direction Connor had told him to go in, forcing us to follow behind him.

We all three started to move a bit faster, knowing that it wouldn't be too much longer until we were home in London.

We pressed on for quite a while, longer than it had taken before, but that was to be expected, considering that two out of three of us were in no state to be doing anything right now, much less traipsing through time, searching for--.

"Danny? What about Helen?" I asked him, bringing up the one subject that everyone else had failed to mention.

"Ah, Helen," he said slowly, as if just remembering who she was. "I don't think we'll have to worry about her anytime soon."

"You mean she's…" Connor started, not seeing the need to finish, seeing as both Danny and I already knew what he was going to ask. Danny turned around and looked at him, an amused expression on his face. "Yes, Connor, she's dead," he finished for him.

"But…how?" I asked, wondering how we hadn't seen her, dead or alive, on our way to find Danny.

"She fell off a cliff, along with a raptor," he explained, forcing back laughter in his attempt to be the mature one.

I could hear Connor chuckling next to me. I glanced over at him, wondering what could possibly be so funny. "Death by dinosaur," I heard him say quietly, just loud enough for me to hear. I felt myself start to laugh, then scolded myself for doing so, knowing that it wasn't the right thing to do when you found out someone had just died. "Shut up, Connor," I told him, even though I still found myself smiling along with him.

It put an odd feeling in my chest, knowing that Helen was dead. I knew that I should be happy about it, but it still just felt wrong. After all, she was human, wasn't she? And even though she had killed Cutter, her own husband, I still felt like we should acknowledge her death with something other than grins and giggles.

"Let's go, Connor," I heard Danny call, interrupting my thoughts and making me realise that while Danny had kept going, Connor had stayed, waiting for me.

"Right, sorry," he said, when he noticed that I had snapped out of it by now. I threw him an apologetic smile, feeling guilty for making him look bad. "Sorry," I mouthed, accepting the fact that it was my fault for getting lost in my thoughts. "It's alright," I heard him mumble, before we started off again.

As we walked on, I noticed how familiar everything here was. The buildings we passed were all ones I had seen before, back home. And the ARC, of course, now grimy and decrepit, still felt the same, even if it had taken on a whole new look.

In the middle of turning a corner, Danny stopped abruptly, looking back at us. Connor and I exchanged a puzzled look, neither one of us knowing exactly why we were stopped.


	5. Goodbyes

"What is it?" Connor asked him, clearly just as clueless as I was. Danny shushed him, putting a finger in front of his lips, like Connor was a small child. "Don't you hear that?" he asked softly, glancing back and forth between the two of us. "Hear what?" he asked Danny, looking back at me confusedly.

I listened closely, and, after a while, started to notice a faint buzzing sound. At first, I wasn't sure exactly what it was that I was hearing. And then I realised it. What Danny and I heard was the whir of fast-moving wings, escalating as they got closer and closer.

Connor noticed our silence, looking slightly uncomfortable. "What is it?" he asked, obviously hating not being in on it. "Hush, Connor. Just listen," I answered back, more harshly than I had originally intended.

He cocked his head to the side, looking back at me when he started to hear it as well. "Yeah," I said to him softly, nodding at him, answering the question that I could tell he would've asked anyway.

We both looked to Danny for answers, knowing very well that, if we stayed here, in a matter of minutes, all hopes of ever going back home to London ever again would be gone.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do," Danny said, keeping his voice low. "Connor, you're going to need to go through--" "I'm not leaving Abby here," he interrupted, swallowing hard afterward.

I thought about it for a moment. I had always told myself that if it ever came to this, having to decide between saving myself or someone else, that I would choose them over me. But, at the same time, I also knew that it would ruin him if I didn't make it back. He wouldn't be able to live with himself, thinking that t was his life. I didn't want that for him. But I couldn't let him risk his life for mine.

"Connor," Danny said slowly. "It's the best way. With your ankle…" He trailed off, hoping I would help to back him up.

He looked at me, a mixture of fear and anticipation filling his eyes. "Abby…" he started, tears welling up deep in his eyes. "Go, Connor," I said quietly, looking down at the concrete to avoid eye contact.

His hopeful expression faded, and was replaced by one of sadness and surprise soon after. "What?" he stammered, choking on his words as he looked at me in disbelief.

"He's right, Connor. You need to go," I repeated, not needing to look up to know what this was doing to him, my voice starting to crack.

"But, Abby— " He glanced at Danny before looking back at me, even though I refused to look him in the eye out of shame.

"Connor, please--- " I started, but not being able to finish. "I'm sorry," I told him, knowing it wouldn't help, but trying it anyway.

He held me tight against him, leaving me to rest my head on his left shoulder, feeling his heart beating next to mine. "I'm sorry, Connor," I repeated, as a single tear fell from his cheek onto mine.

"Abby, I---. I just don't want to lose you. Not again," he said in my ear, turning away at the last minute, probably to hide the fact that he was crying. "Me neither," I told him, pulling away form his embrace, suddenly remembering that our lives were currently in extreme danger, and how important it was for him to leave. "And you're not going to. I promise, Connor," I reassured him.

He hugged me again, more quickly this time. "See you on the other side, yeah?" I asked him, choking back tears.

He closed his eyes, shaking his head, as if to tell himself that none of this was happening. "Yeah, I hope. But if you don't---." He stopped, taking a deep breath and blinking back tears. "You know how I feel about you, don't you, Abby?" he asked me, looking serous as he took my hands in his.

"Yeah, Connor. Yeah," I answered, thinking to myself about how I had really wished that this had been somewhere a bit more romantic, instead of some future time period where we could possibly die in a matter of minutes. "And I feel the same way about—"

* * *

Ah, sweet, sweet suspense. I think I'll stop here for today. Please Please tell me what you think. :D

P.S. I cried when I wrote this part.


	6. Problem Solved

"Go with him, Abby."

We looked over at Danny, waiting impatiently to the side. "What?" Connor asked him, quickly wiping his tears with the back of his hand. "Abby, go with him," he repeated for my sake, since I only half heard him anyway, ignoring Connor's question.

"But what about—" I started, instantly becoming worried. "I'll be fine, Abby. Now go," he said slowly. "Before I change my mind," he added, smiling warmly.

"Danny, are you sure you'll be okay?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him out of concern. "Positive. Just go," he said, looking back over his shoulder, making sure nothing was behind him.

Connor and I exchanged a hopeful, but apprehensive, look. "Let's go then," he said, laughing with relief.

We walked to the anomaly more quickly than we had been before, getting there in just under a minute or so.

Neither one of us said a word to one another while we walked, still holding on to each other for support, due to my exhaustion from getting hardly any sleep the night before, which was just now starting to kick in, and his broken ankle, caused by being knocked out of a tree.

"Connor," I asked, getting his attention, looking at him sideways, getting a glimpse of only his profile.

"Yeah?" he acknowledged me, without looking up, his eyes staying focused straight ahead of us towards the anomaly that now only stood a short distance away from us.

"Back there--. Well, if Danny hadn't let me come with you, what would you have done?"

He looked at me, his eyes wide, making it obvious that my question had caught him off guard. "Well, I would've--," he started, trying to think of something to say on the spot. "I would've…managed," he finished, eager to change the subject.

"Managed? Assuming that I was dead?" I verified, looking at him curiously.

"Well, no, not if you—" "After you," I told him, nodding towards the anomaly in front of us. "What?" he asked, momentarily confused. "Oh. Right," he reminded himself, just now realising what I was talking about. He limped towards the anomaly, dragging me along with him.

As we stepped through the anomaly, I noticed Sarah—and Becker—waiting impatiently, one pacing back and forth, the other standing by, his gun lowered, watching her, looking slightly annoyed.

"Abby!" she exclaimed when she saw me, giving me a quick hug. I hugged her back, probably more happy to see her than she was me.

"And Connor," she noticed, with a bit less enthusiasm. She didn't bother giving him a hug, giving me a look instead that said, "Don't worry, I'm not."

"But…" A frightened, crushed look came across her face. "Abby, where's Danny?"

Connor and I exchanged a "What now?" look before he decided to take it from here. "He's coming…soon. He told us to go ahead, with my ankle, and--"

"Thank you, Connor," she said, collapsing into the chair behind her. "Oh, God. I knew he shouldn't have gone. I told him not to go, I knew it was too dangerous," she said, her voice trailing off, burying her head in her hands.

"Look, I'm sure he's fine, Sarah," Becker told her, standing at attention, a good ways away from us.

"He's not coming back, is he?" she asked to no one in particular, after a few minutes of silence had passed.

"Yes, he's coming back, for God's sake. It is Danny we're talking about here," Becker said harshly, showing that he was quickly reaching his limit.

I glared at him briefly, annoyed at how insensitive he was acting towards the whole situation. He glanced back at me, noticing my eyes on him. "What?" he snapped, stepping forward slightly.

"Nothing, except maybe--" "Abs, he does have a gun," Connor warned, having to whisper in my ear to avoid being heard, causing me to force back a laugh.

"Nothing," I repeated, watching as his face slowly relaxed, taking it as a sign that he was starting to calm down some.

An awkward silence continued for the next half hour, with worried glances being exchanged between us, not including Sarah, too caught up in her own thoughts to notice, or care about, anything that was going on around her.

"Let's go, Connor," Becker grumbled, breaking the silence, pulling him by the arm towards the door.

"Wh-Where are we going?" he asked him, dragging his feet in an attempt to stand his ground. I chuckled to myself, realising how Connor was acting quite a bit like a spoiled child.

"Back to the ARC. We need to let everyone know you're back, safe and sound," he said, looking me and Connor over as he spoke, as if he didn't fully believe his own words.

"But we're not all back," I reminded him. "Yet," I added, noticing the way Sarah was looking at me.

Becker looked back at me and Sarah as he carefully thought it over. "Alright. Anything happens, you call me," he told me matter-of-factly, assuming that Sarah was too unstable at the moment to listen, or fully comprehend, what he was saying.

"Or me," Connor added, trying to sound as serious as possible, though I knew his main goal, among others, was to make me laugh. "Right. Or Connor," Becker mumbled, forcing both me and Connor to chuckle at his lack of enthusiasm.

"I will," I told him, agreeing that it really was the best way. If they went back, then they would be able to let Lester know where and how we were at the moment, while Sarah and I waited for Danny to come back through the anomaly.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take, anyway," I heard Becker tell Connor, as I watched them disappear through the main door.


	7. Breaking Down

An awkward silence continued between me and Sarah for the next few minutes. It wasn't in the way that it was when you were left alone with a complete stranger, it was more that I wasn't sure what it was that I could, or should, say, or if I should say anything at all.

"Abby?" she called from across the room, her voice muffled by the fact that she had her head in her hands still. "Yeah?" I rushed over to her side, so that I would be able to hear her question.

She sat up in her chair, lifting her head to prove to me that she had gotten a hold of herself. "What would you do? If you were in my place?"

I looked at her confusedly. "What do you mean?" I asked her, not sure if she realised that we were both here, waiting for Danny.

"Well, I mean…If that was…Connor out there, instead of Danny." She paused, waiting for my reaction. "What would you do, Abby?"

I took a deep breath, annoyed that Connor's had been the first name she had thought to mention. "Um…right. Well…"

"Oh, sorry," she apologised, when she noticed how I was taking it. "It's just that it sort of shows that you two--"

"Alright," I interrupted her. "I would…just want him to come back. And when he did, I would tell him all the things I didn't get a chance to before," I answered her question.

"But, Abby…" She looked down, a somewhat dazed expression coming across her face. "What if…What if he doesn't come back?" she asked me sadly, her voice trembling slightly. "What if…I'm just going to have to get up and…move on the next day?"

"No, Sarah. You can't think like that," I told her, in a soft voice, knowing that I was trying to reassure myself just as much as I was her. "He's coming back. He is."

She shifted her gaze towards the clock hanging on the wall, which now read quarter past three. "Maybe we should call Becker…tell him we haven't seen anything," she said quietly, wrapping her arms around herself for comfort.

"Bit early for all that, don't you think?" we heard a voice on the other side of the room say.


	8. Safe at Last

We turned immediately to see who it was, only to find Danny, standing at the edge of the anomaly, looking exhausted, as he leaned on what was left of Becker's rescued gun to support himself.

"Danny," I sighed with relief, as Sarah got up and rushed to his side. "Danny," I heard her say to him, as she hooked her arm around his, leading him over to where I was now standing. " I thought…I thought you were dead," she told him, standing in front of him now, searching his face for a reaction.

"You didn't think you'd get rid of me all that easy, did you, Sarah?" he asked her jokingly, sporting as close to a grin as he could manage, as he kept his arm around her while they walked over to the table where the equipment stood.

"Close that for me, yeah?" he told her, nodding towards the anomaly. "Um, yeah," she answered, hovering over the table as she pressed the necessary buttons to close the anomaly.

"There," she said proudly to herself, setting the controller down. "Well done," Danny said, nodding at her approvingly.

"Where's Connor?" he asked me, looking surprised to find the two of us apart.

"With Becker," I said dryly, seeing Sarah give me a confused look out of the corner of my eye when she heard the sharp edge to my voice.

He blinked, one of those "Well, that's obvious, but that doesn't answer my question" looks plastered on his face. "And where's Becker?" he asked slowly.

"They went back to the ARC," Sarah explained, looking back at me to make sure it was alright, forcing me to give her a quick nod in return. She paused before continuing, running her hand through her hair nervously, though I couldn't see why. "They went back to tell Lester that Connor and Abby were back. We were just about to call them and tell them that you hadn't showed up yet, and that was when you walked in on us," she said, stopping every so often to check his reaction.

"Alright, then," he said cheerfully. "Thank you, Sarah," he added, noting that she was the main source of his information, seeing as I wasn't offering much help, since I was still annoyed that he had automatically assumed that I would be with Connor.

"Abby, could you call one of them? Just tell them to get back here," he told me, smiling slightly, as he glanced back and forth between me and Sarah.

"Sure," I said eagerly, turning and walking a few steps away from them into the corner.

I started to scroll through the contacts on my mobile, then stopped myself and went back to the one number I felt the most comfortable calling, and probably already knew by heart anyway: Connor's.

It rang a few times before he finally picked up, making my nonexistent-until-now nervousness build up inside me. And it wasn't that I didn't feel comfortable around Connor, because I did. He was my best friend, and one of the few people I could really be myself around. It was just that for the past while, it had just been…weird, how I always cared about what I said, like I was afraid to offend him. It had never occurred to me how much I cared about him, and it was surprising, since we had had the perfect example of a love-hate relationship before.

"Yeah?" he asked when he answered, making me snicker at how serious he sounded. "Connor--," I started, before being interrupted by his frantic voice, which instantly droned out mine.

"Abby? Wh—What is it? Has something happened? You're not in trouble, are you?" he rambled on, leaving me with no room to get a word in edge-wise.

"No, Connor. And I'm fine, thanks for asking," I managed to squeeze in, cutting him off, watching out of the corner of my eye as Sarah and Danny exchanged a knowing look.

"Oh," he said quietly, not at all trying to hide the relief in his voice. "Do you think that you and Becker could come back down here?" I asked him, hearing his steady breathing on the other end.

"Um…right now, he's kind of in the middle of talking to Lester. I'm pretty much just here as proof that we're back--"

"Connor!" I heard someone, most likely Lester, yell at him before I heard a muffled conversation, causing me to assume that Connor had covered the receiver with his palm to stop me from having to listen in on his being told off.

"I'm so, so sorry, Abby. I really, really have to go," he told me quickly, speaking in a hushed voice. "Just say we're on our way," he added.

"Kay, I will. Bye," I said quietly, before hanging up, wishing that the conversation could have been longer, but at the same time understanding why it had to be cut short.

"They're on their way," I lied, knowing very well that they would in fact take quite a while to get here.


	9. Reunion

They walked in about a half an hour later, Connor lagging behind Becker, having to use an awkward pair of metal crutches he must have picked up at the ARC.

"Much traffic today?" Danny asked them, smiling smugly as they walked over to where we stood and found room.

"Um…about average, really," Connor answered, after taking a moment to think about it, causing all of us to look at him curiously. "What?" he asked innocently, looking around at all of our faces, eventually settling on mine. "Abby?"

I chuckled to myself, shaking my head to provide him with an answer. "Nothing, Connor."

He got quiet for a minute before breaking the silence that had formed. "Oh. I wasn't supposed to answer that, was I?" "No, Connor," I said quietly, a smile slowly creeping onto my face.

"Connor," Danny called, waving him over to the table where everything still was. "Yeah?" he asked, walking over to join him, leaving Sarah to take his spot next to me.

"Thank you," she told me, in a hushed voice. "For what?" I asked, having to lean over to be able to talk without begin heard by anyone else.

"Oh. I'm sorry. For earlier. What you told me," she explained, smiling appreciatively. "Oh, you're welcome," I told her, just realising what she was talking about.

"But," she added, stopping and looking at me curiously. "Just one quick question. Don't you follow your own advice?"

I smiled smugly to myself. "Well, shouldn't that be obvious?" I answered, watching Connor from across the room where Sarah and I stood.

"So…is that a no?" she asked me, following my gaze. "What do you think?" I answered smugly, looking back at her when Connor noticed my eyes on him.

"That's what I thought," she said, laughing, as we watched Connor and Danny walk back over to us, nothing but a bare wall behind them, all traces of the anomaly now long gone.

"Hey, Danny," Becker called, making himself known again after staying silent for so long. "Yeah?" he asked, giving Connor a pat on the back as he passed by.

"My gun. Where is it?" Becker asked him, looking at him suspiciously.

"Um, yeah. See, about that…" Connor answered in his defense, leaving my side to go stand next to Danny, in case he needed back up.

Danny looked back at him, an amused expression on his face. "Don't," he said, holding his hand out in front of him. "Here," Danny answered, handing him the mangled remains of his gun.

"Well, where's the rest of it?" Becker asked impatiently, looking back and forth between Connor and Danny.

"Somewhere in the future would be my best guess," Connor said, chuckling, causing Becker to glare at him and mumble something under his breath.

"Right. Sorry," he said quietly, throwing me a quick glance over his shoulder before turning back to Becker and Danny.

"Connor. Danny," he said, looking each of them over as he said their names. "Remind me never to let you borrow anything of mine ever again," he said calmly, having to bite down on his lip to avoid an outburst.

"Well, that went well, didn't it?" Connor mumbled sarcastically in my ear, making me laugh and causing a few curious glances, as we moved in a large group towards the door, Danny leading us along, with me and Connor behind him, leaving Sarah and Becker in the rear.

I started to move a bit faster in an attempt to catch up with Danny, having to throw Connor a warning look to stop him from coming after me.

"Danny," I started, after finally working my way up to the spot beside him. He looked over at me, slowing down a bit to a leisurely pace so that he would be able to walk and have a conversation at the same time.

"Earlier…" I started, before having to stop to rephrase my question. "Why did you let me go with him?" I asked, looking back at Connor, who was already watching us out of curiosity.

Danny looked at me again, a toothy grin on his face. "Let's just say you two…appealed to my better nature." He looked back down, reaching into his pocket for the keys so that we could get back to the ARC. "Plus, with how long the two of you take to say goodbye, neither of us would be here right now if I hadn't," he added, looking over to see my reaction.

"Well, thank you, Danny," I chuckled, before stepping back to join Connor again, when I noticed how much he was struggling with his new crutches.

"Nothing bad, I hope?" he asked me, wide-eyed, gladly accepting my outstretched arm and carrying his crutches at his side.

"What?" I asked, knowing very well what he meant, but just wanting to see what he would say.

"I really wish you wouldn't talk about me, Abs," he continued, completely ignoring my question, a look of mock hurt on his face.

"I wasn't…really. And how would you know I was talking about you just now anyway?" I asked him, staying behind everyone else as they started to get into the car.

"You mean you weren't?" he asked, watching with a disappointed look as Sarah took the passenger seat next to Danny.

"Nope," I said slowly, shaking my head, before climbing into the back next to Becker, looking slightly annoyed by the fact that Sarah had taken his usual spot.

"Oh," he said quietly, a confused look on his face as he got in next to me.

"Can we go now?" I heard Becker grumble next to me, as Danny started up the car.

I glared at him briefly, turning back a few seconds later to look out of the window, holding Connor's hand tightly, as we drove back to the ARC we all knew and loved.


End file.
